


Something Out There

by Volbeatic



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Multi, Search And Rescue Inspired, Shits gonna get spooky FAST, no one is safe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-04-20 02:30:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14251143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Volbeatic/pseuds/Volbeatic
Summary: Inspired by Search and Rescue stories. Post Canon. Lup and Barry go camping in a forest just outside of their own comfortable living in their realm and find themselves encountering something beyond their wildest nightmares. Blacking out after a rough fall, Barry finds himself waking up the following morning in a forest completely unfamiliar to him: Monongahela Forest.





	1. The Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for checkin' this out! Hope to get out some more and it was fun trying to write something for once!
> 
> TW: Some harm described in a bit of detail. This is also meant to be a bit more horror-themed.

Everything changes so much and so fast, sometimes.  
  
At least, after staying trapped in an umbrella for a decade, normal time passage seems to be more like a fever dream rather than reality. And yet, Lup had taken it all in stride. She had reunited with her brother, her love, and the rest of the entire world she had wanted to protect in order to save that very same world. She went on to marry Barry some time afterwards after she had popped the question, and they decided to do something more humble for a honeymoon after having such a lavish and extra wedding itself.   
  
It's funny how humble something could appear, how quaint and safe it has led others to believe, and how comforting something as simple as camping an evening out in the woods would sound. When Barry had suggested it along with a few other options they'd do the following evenings traveling, Lup agreed. Something about the sense of being out in the wild and traveling again brought her back to some of their happier memories together before they had been separated. While there was no real telling what was waiting for them out in the forests, they both had spent enough time in this world now to know what they would be up against, most likely. They at least _knew_ the forest they chose to camp in. There were never any qualms about any sort of big bads residing in it. Never any reports of dangers or missing persons or the likes aside from some bear sightings and what you'd expect from forests in general.   
  
So surely they had nothing to worry about.   
  
And surely nothing had happened to Barry when he went out to go take a leak out in the woods while Lup hung back and tended the fire. It had not been long, but Lup still had her suspicions.   
  
Living the lives they had, it was something they could never really get away from. Even now as she poked at the live flames held down by the deteriorating logs which fueled it, she caught glimpse of her ring and the worry still stabbed into her gut and twisted.

  
The set up to their camp consisted of a large tent, their makeshift fire pit and a log near it to sit on, and sat close to a gorgeous lake, claimed the most beautiful location in the forest they visited. The warm soft glow of the fire cast homey oranges and golds against Lup's form, while the late dusk darkness was cut through by the sharper, cooler light of the moon above her. It's reflection bounced against the still waters of the lake and shone through the silhouettes of the trees, and all was quiet and still aside from the hum of insects and crickets, occasional call of an owl, and the percussive cracks of the fire Lup tended.   
  
It was so peaceful, and yet Lup's peace of mind was fading.   
  
Another minute passed, and still no sign of Barry. He should be _back_ by now, she thought. How much could he pee, she pondered. Where is he, she asked, finally setting her stick that she'd been mindlessly prodding the fire with down, standing up, and glancing about her.   
  
Nothing, nothing but trees, the camp, the lake, the moon, the crickets and the darkness that extended past it all. _No sign of Barry._   
  
She called out, finally, her voice breaking the still of the evening "Barry?" She called, scanning the area past the camp where she had seen him leave.   
  
"Yeah, babe?" She heard, from behind her as Barry emerged from out of the woods behind the tent, seemingly smacking away some mosquitos by the looks of it.   
  
Lup nearly jumped at the sight of him "You nearly scared me to death... not that it would have been that much of a problem, just sorta would suck for the rest of our honeymoon plans." She said, her worries and fears melting away into some humor as she tried to play off just how scared she _was_ at the time.

  
"Awh, I'm sorry, Lup. You know I didn't mean to scare you." He said as he approached her with a warm smile on his face, taking her hands in his. "I just got caught up in the view, it's really gorgeous out there. When the fire dies down a little I want to take you to a spot I found just a little bit ago."   
  
Lup made a face and sort of laughed at what he said, but Barry seemed a little dejected "What? What's so funny about me wanting to take you to see a really romantic spot?"   
  
"Well... I don't know, the fact you went to go pee and I can only assume that's the spot you decided to do so? Gross, Bear. Your idea of romance is kinda skewed, huh?" Lup said as she teased him playfully, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck.   
  
Barry blushed at her assumptions, and he had to admit it did sound that way "No, like, it's not the same place, I didn't, I didn't _pee_ there, that's..." he said before he huffed and sighed, resolving to a smile as he caught on to the fact she's just toying with him "Alright, well... can we go or not later?"   
  
"Well of course. I'd be honored to see your pee spot." She said before she stole a kiss from him and winked. Barry held her closer and kissed her again in revenge before they pulled back, staring into each other's eyes and exchanging their love without words for just a moment. Lup pulled away first but left them attached by one hand she held of his in hers, leading him back down with her to sit on the log by the fire.   
  
They sat for a long moment together, hands held before Barry pulled Lup closer and she rested her head on his shoulder. "Yknow, reminds me a lot of the old days when we'd just explore. Be out there in some foreign world journeying." He said after a moment as they sat quietly while watching the fire begin to die.

  
"I was thinking the same honestly. I don't miss taking on an entity that devoured worlds, but... I did miss this. And I did miss you too, glad I could have both again." Lup said as she sighed and glanced back up at Barry from where her head rested on his shoulder. She was _so glad_ to have him again, and to know now for certain they had each other and were _married_ now. It was wild, and well invited.   
  
"I'm glad too, babe." Barry spoke as he glanced back down at Lup from behind his glasses, moving a hand up to push aside a few stray hairs from her gorgeous face, and nearly losing his breath in the process. How could he have been so lucky to _have her back_ again? How could she still be this beautiful, and be his? The nagging worry inside of him had him on edge, afraid to lose her again, afraid it'd be for an eternity, but the weight of the band on his ring finger told him that wouldn't be the case. Nothing could tear them apart now, and even tomorrow when he would wake up, she'd be there beside him. And it was wild, and well invited, as well.   
  
The newlyweds sat for a long while, watching the fire die down before them to nothing but subtly glowing embers still clinging to the heat they once held, gold and red cracks dancing under their dark snootier surface as a reminder to their previous brilliance. Barry finally nudged Lup, who had began to drift asleep against his shoulder, and she stirred before sitting back up again and stretching.   
  
She looked to him with a sleepy but mischievous look, a smile playing at her lips "Still wanna show me your pee spot?" She asked, standing up anyways and tugging him up lazily by one of his hands.   
  
Barry simply smiled and complied, getting up off of the log they had shared by what was once the fire, then taking out a flashlight before leading her back out in the direction he had disappeared off to before.   
  
It was a little bit of a hike, at least it felt that way in the darkness where perception of space was a bit more skewed, and Lup wondered why Barry had gone out this far. They shared a bathroom among other things by now, it wasn't anything new that Barry would feel _that_ self conscious about peeing, or at least she would _hope_ not. Her wonders quieted as she became more distracted by the beauty of the moon’s reflection on the lake shining against their silhouettes through the trees. Maybe that's what had him wandering, huh.   
  
Barry led her closer towards the lake after a bit of a walk through the dark, night fallen forest, flashlight casted ahead to be sure of their footing. He turned it off as they neared the shore, the trees around them thinning out until it left them standing on the well-lit beach that bordered the lake before them. The choir of crickets continued unwavering, and joining their chorus now were the bellows of frogs, harmonizing in the summer evening under the light of the moon. It was nothing short of beautiful, and the view practically begged to be seen and heard, like a siren song.

  
"Barry... this is gorgeous. Even more so at night." She spoke softly, the sleepiness now gone as she stared at the view in awe. She then looked back to Barry as he pulled her face to look back at him, seeing the moonlight cast upon his face and catching the adoration that was held in his eyes.   
  
"I could think of something even more gorgeous." Barry spoke as he smiled then leaned in to steal a kiss from Lup, pulling back to grin a goofy lovestruck grin.   
  
"Cmon Barry, that's really basic." Lup teased, but she simply stared right back up at him and his ridiculously dorky expression. "You'd expect me to say 'oh and what could that be?' And I'd have to act shocked as you said 'I'm looking at her.' I'm onto you Barold Bluejeans." She jested before she went to steal a kiss back before Barry could open his mouth to say anything, this time holding it.   
  
They held each other for a moment in the kiss but it was soon interrupted by the sound of a large twig snapping nearby in the still, calm night. Barry pulled back to glance in the direction from where it came, staring into nothing but the darkness held beyond the tree line. "Did you hear that?" He asked Lup, immediately on edge.   
  
"Hear what, Bear?" She asked as she blinked and followed his line of sight, not catching glimpse of whatever it was he thought he heard.   
  
Barry calmed after a moment of complete silence again and then sighed as he looked back to his wife. "Alright then... well, maybe we should head back now I guess." He suggested with a slight shrug, pulling back to take just her hand again and turning the flashlight back on as he led her over towards the tree line once more.   
  
And while he had calmed, Barry couldn't shake the feeling that something was indeed out there past what he was able to see before. His flashlight scanned the area around them a couple times more than it had when they made their way out to begin with, but no dice. Still no sign of the wildlife that had apparently been around before.   
  
Barry and Lup approached their campsite, flashlight catching the silhouette of their tent and the now deadened campfire where the fire once lit the area. The forest had grown quiet around them, the sound of the crickets dying down to near silence. As they neared their tent, they both had the sensation of the pressure dropping in that area, both stretching their jaws and yawning in an attempt to pop their ears without realizing one another felt it too. When they came around to the other side of the tent they realized two things.   
  
They realized they were not alone, and they realized that they were no longer safe where they were now. The flashlight lingered over the side of the tent they had not seen on their way back, and caught in great detail what appeared to be a gash torn through its nylon side. A gash of three, long strips going from corner to corner diagonally down the side of the tent. It was, _careful,_ in its mark. Not jagged. Not something done by a wild animal of any sort that Barry or Lup knew of. It was _planned,_ and they took it as a warning.   
  
The pair looked at one another then back to the carefully executed gash on the side of the tent before Lup finally spoke up. "I... I think we should just take our stuff and try to head back home, Bear. I don't... it's not safe here, we gotta go." She said with an urgency and near fright she hadn't shown until now.   
  
"Alright... let's just grab our stuff and--" Barry spoke but he soon quieted himself as he heard what sounded like a cry off in the distance, something vaguely humanoid sounding. A cry for help. He looked back to Lup "did you hear that?" He asked.   
  
She simply nodded and they both looked back to their camp before hearing the call again. "They could be in trouble, we should try to help. Whatever it is, we can't just, we can't just leave them to deal with whatever did this." Lup spoke up before she grabbed a flashlight as well and pointed it in the direction from which the call came from.

  
She headed towards the edge of the camp, staring out into the darkness that was only illuminated by her flashlights beam. She looked back to see Barry still standing where she last saw him and waited for a moment before heading towards the call.   
  
Barry blinked, worry consuming his thoughts at the idea of going out back into the darkness where this... creature resided. He knew this was its domain, and the mark on the tent was clear enough to tell him to get the hell out of dodge. But Lup was so stubborn and he knew that there was a very real possibility someone out there could be hurt or needing help or trying to fend off this creature. But likewise who was to say the call was not one from the beast trying to lure them back out into the dark?   
  
And as Barry watched Lup pause at the edge of the wood and look back before she headed in, his heart sunk and he panicked, quickly following after her as he refused to let her leave him again. He hoped... he hoped that it was just someone needing help. That that was it and then they could be on their way.   
  
But hopes do very little in the grand scheme of things. One could hope for anything in the world but the bitter reality resided in the harsh darkness. In the woods where reality and time and space seemed to play differently. Hopes were foolish. Hopes were dreams that were meant to die.   
  
And Barry's hopes... well, they were in vain.

  
Lup continued ahead as she listened for any sort of call again, but she didn't hear anything once she had stepped foot among the trees once more. The voice had led her far from the camp, far from the lake and far from familiar territory and the marked hiking paths. She had heard Barry behind her, following her, but other than that the forest was silent. The pressure still fucked with her ears, and everything sounded so muted. She was so keen on trying to listen for this call. She _knew_ it had to have come from this direction, but there hadn't been any sign of anyone out this way.   
  
No light, no sound, no one.  
  
And Barry's hopes melted away into fears of very real danger. "Lup, we should turn back." He suggested, the gut instinct in him telling him to fly, to run from this forest as fast and as far as he could. None of it looked familiar to him. The darkness was permeating and his voice sounded so quiet and lost in the silence and the muted sound in his own ears.  
  
Lup held up a hand as her ears perked, trying so desperately to hear before she caught the sound again. This time, it was closer. And it was the sound of a child. She took off running in the direction, bolting into the darkness ahead and running after the sound. They had already come out this far, and it was a _child_ who needed help. Who could be hurt. Who could be _dead_ if they didn't hurry.  
  
Barry watched as Lup put her hand up and sighed, looking away and scanning the area for a moment. But as he looked back, he saw she was gone. He saw the distant light of her flashlight as she must have been running in the direction of the call, and he soon chased after it. He called her, yelled her name, but she didn't respond and the light got further and further from him. He was wrought with fear, adrenaline and anxiety as he saw her disappear from him again. Running into the unknown to try to save someone.  
  
Tears filled his eyes as he ran and soon, he was in complete silence. No sound at all filled the air around him. Not even the sound of his own foot stepping on and breaking a twig. No sound until he heard a call.  
  
But unlike the others, this call was... wrong. This call had the sound of the child and... the sound of a man. Two men. Maybe a woman. Maybe several. Several humanoid voices together, calling one word: "Help"  
  
A chill ran down Barry's spine and it felt as though he had just been dropped ten feet, the pressure popping his ears and suddenly the sounds of the forest were back. The crickets, the owls, all of it rushed back into his ears and all too loudly. No calls broke the sound. Nothing broke the sound and soon his head was _pounding_ at how _loud_ it all was. _Too loud._ And he was _alone._  
  
Where was she? He blinked tear filled eyes and ran forward where he had last seen her light, feet and body catching on branches as he didn't _care_ anymore. He had to _find her._   
  
The forest wasn't safe. This wasn't the place to be. They had to get out and they had to do so together.  
  
_Where was she?_  
  
By now tears were falling and obscuring his vision immensely. Everything was too loud, it was too dark and he was so scared of losing her again. He couldn't lose her. His emotions drove him forward and towards his demise. In his clumsiness his foot caught on a root and he stumbled forward, nearly falling and attempting to catch himself, but he tumbled.  
  
And he tumbled and tumbled down and down and _down,_ further than he had prepared. He felt his body battered against rock, he felt as it kept _going_ ribs bruising and even cracking, bones protesting as they tried not to break and ultimately did so anyways.

  
And then he felt still. He felt himself still at the bottom, staring back up at the sky above him, moon overhead and shining against the cliff face he had just fallen from. He saw the stars up above and noted for a moment two things. How _beautiful_ it truly was, and how _alone_ he truly felt.   
  
And his tear filled eyes shut closed. All went black.   
  
And all stayed black for what felt like two minutes before he felt something nudge his foot.   
  
Barry woke with a start and blinked and squinted into what looked like bright daylight. His eyes focused for a moment and it was then he noticed a figure, presumably what had nudged his foot. A 40-something-year-old man dressed in forest greens and khaki official attire, looking rather serious about whatever sorta job he had here in the forest. And the man spoke after watching him for a moment. "If you're gonna get drunk, please don't do so in this forest. The last thing I need is to find someone's carcass lyin around, too much paperwork and I'd rather..." the man sighed "rather not. Deal, with that. Please get up, drink some water and get out of my forest."


	2. The Dive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Duck finds himself attempting to comfort Barry and gathering a search party to find Lup. Lup has a brief run in with the abomination they are facing.

Barry watched the man who stood before him for a moment before he slowly sat up, blinking in the bright light he had previously not been accustomed to. Everything that had _just_ happened felt so _vivid_ to him still. He had not slept for long, at least he was almost certain he hadn't. And strangely enough his body... felt fine. He could have sworn he just tumbled down the side of a cliff to what most certainly would have been his death. He quick felt himself over before pinching the skin of his arm, blinking in surprise to feel he was still tangible. He didn't lose his body to the fall, he was still very much not in his lich form. Huh...   
  
He looked back up at the man, thick eyebrows knitting together. "I can assure you I was not drunk. I'm not exactly... sure what happened, just now. How long have I been here?"   
  
Duck watched, an eyebrow raised as he observed this man before him check to... make sure he was there? Weird. Guy seemed coherent enough now, just... weird. Duck made note of it. "You've been here for 'bout as long as I've seen you here. Ten minutes? I called in that I found you passed out, out here, no trace of a camp or whatever you were drinkin' cus I'm gonna be honest with you: I'm not convinced. But so long as you explain yourself and get outta here, I won't report more. Where's your camp, where's your booze and did you have anyone with ya?"   
  
Barry looked around his surroundings again, noting this forest looked much more different from the one he was in before, just from the trees and geography from what he could tell from being on the forest floor. When the man had asked for him to explain himself, and asked about his camp, booze and who he was with, his heart sunk in his chest. _Lup._ " _Shit_ I need to find her. Look, uh... what's-- what's your name?" Barry asked as he slowly stood back up and brushed himself off, realizing he really was left completely unharmed. Had everything been a dream? _Did_ he get drunk?

"The names Duck Newton, it's a nickname." The man in khaki uniform addressed, as if it were an automated response from a robot with a drawl. "And who might you be?"  
  
Barry glanced around some more, seemingly nervous, or even scared. "My names Barry Bluejeans. Duck, uh... my wife's out here, I _think_ somewhere. I... I don't recognize this part of the forest. I don't know how far I am away from the camp. I _did not get drunk_ , I cannot stress that enough, but I... whatever happened last night? This-- this is gonna sound crazy. Something was after us. I swear it, something was out there after us. And I got separated from her and _I need to find her,_ Duck" He spoke as if his mouth were running a million miles an hour, fear being it's primary motor.   
  
"Now hold on, slow down there a bit, partner. No need to get too worked up, I know you wanna find her but we gotta have a level head," Duck said as he raised a hand, talking a little slower. "You'd be surprised the shit I've seen, to be honest. Now take it a bit slower. Did you see what was after you? Where was the last place you remembered being before you realized you were out this far? We can start to head back towards my station in the meantime, it's a little closer to the outskirts of the forest where you woulda entered through." He said, nodding for Barry to come with him. The more he spoke, the more he realized this might be a bit more than just some drunk getting lost. He knew the forest, and at least what was found in it, played some nasty tricks sometimes and reckoned this could be related. Poor guy seemed shook out of his wits. Duck would rather take paperwork over this bullhonkey but... he did want to help if he could. The sooner he did the sooner he could get back to normalcy.

Barry took a deep, slow breath and nodded, starting to walk in the direction Duck had been pointing out. "I never... I never saw what was actually coming after us. Shit just didn't... feel right. It felt like the pressure dropped, everything was so quiet and so dark, I couldn't even make out crickets chirping. We... oh, we heard a call for help. It sounded like a kid and Lup, she ran to help. Just ran off into the dark. We heard it one more time and that was the last time I saw her, she ran so far ahead and I couldn't catch up and then she was gone. Then I heard the cry again... only this time it sounded like a bunch of people speaking at once. Just saying 'Help'. It wasn't right, I don't know what was out there, Duck. And I don't... I don't know where she could be." He spoke, the man losing his composure as he drew closer to his conclusion, choking up on his last thought.  
  
Duck continued walking towards the general location of the ranger station, listening intently on his new companions story and tensing slightly at the man's description of his and his wife's encounter with whatever it was they ran into. He felt more and more dreadful with each step closer they came, each word that found its way out of Barry's mouth, as two truths set into place in Ducks heart. They were so heavy it felt as though that same heart now weighed like a thousand tons of bricks, sinking deeper and deeper into his stomach. The two truths were that this was in fact something in his jurisdiction along with the rest of the Pine Guard, and that he had absolutely no experience against this abomination in particular. A third thought occurred to him, that this abomination could be something like the very first one they've encountered, just... smarter, able to take human forms and use them rather than simply animals. Duck was equally hopeful and scared if it were. They had managed to blow the last one up in flames, maybe they could piece together if that would work here. But he'd have to--

Duck was interrupted by his thoughts abruptly when his arm was grabbed by Barry's hand and pulled back. " _Did you hear me?_ " He spoke in a whisper, voice nervous and percussive with agitation and fear. "I just... wait, I heard it."   
  
All the while after Barry had finished his explanation he was waiting for something, _anything_ out of Duck, he watched as the man just continued on in silence. He watched as the khaki attired man's weary eyes turned more unfocused as if far far away or far ahead of himself mentally. And then, he heard it. He heard the distant cry for help. It was not Lup, it was the child again. The same child he had heard just minutes prior.   
  
Duck blinked and looked back to Barry before looking around once again, trying to hone in on any sounds he heard around him but not picking up on whatever it was the man in blue jeans was indicating. It was the normal babbling of a distant brook, rustle of the trees Duck admired and appreciated so much, usual bird species who's trills echoed among them. Nothing unusual, just as Duck liked. He didn't find why Barry was so bugged out. "I didn't hear anything. Look, we are gonna find her. I'm taking you back to the station, I'm going to gather up a search and rescue crew and we will find her before sun down. She couldn't be that much farther from where you were, but it helps to have a squad of people lookin', 'leave no stone unturned' sorta deal. We'll get her back." He spoke, trying to offer him a reassuring smile, but it was evident he wasn't used to smiling or being reassuring.   
  
Barry's stance didn't let up, still scanning for any sort of noise but everything unusual had gone silent. He looked back to Duck and saw his attempt at a reassuring smile and sighed "I hope so." He spoke quietly, then went silent while they walked the remaining distance towards the station.

They walked into the ranger station and Barry had a look around at the unfamiliar settings as Duck went in ahead of him. He took note of the subtleties that Duck must have decorated in the otherwise nondescript ranger station. A calendar depicting what looked to be a bear, a few other certificates or notices of some sort. There were maps, shelves with books ranging from standard identification for birds, plants and other mammal wildlife, to reading material with the titles obscured by the spines being bent out of use. There were some things that he did not recognize, however. Technology unfamiliar to him that he otherwise wouldn't have expected in a quaint little ranger station sat on top of the desk before them, an outdated desktop computer monitor and some sort of communication device Duck was now using. He'd never seen a stone of far speech like it.  
  
Duck headed over to the telephone that was found on top of the desk, neatly organized beside a map that seemed to be permanently opened up beside it. He dialed up a number and held the phone to his ear, waiting a few moments before sighing when he didn't get an answer. He waited for the tone to signal him to leave a message then proceeded to address the other line. "Hey, Mama? This is Duck Newton. We have a sorta... situation, something that sounds like us. We need to get a search party rounded up as soon as we can, I'm not sure what we're up against but someone is out there and we do have someone else here looking for her who has some information on what it was he faced. Gather up Aubrey and whoever else can help. I'm now gonna call up Ned. Call me back here when you get this, thanks." He said into the phone, then put the phone back down onto its cradle and picked it up again, dialing a different number this time.

At the Cryptonomica, Ned had been working his usual shift and was chatting about a recent sighting he had seen of Mothman to a couple of eager-eyed tourists. He was answering their questions just as Kirby popped around the corner with a hand held to the receiver of the phone at his ear.   
  
"You got a minute? It's Duck, says it's urgent." Kirby says curiously, not entirely sure exactly what it was Duck wanted but the guy had said it was important.   
  
Ned's eyebrows rose at the information "Huh, Duck... well alright." He spoke before he turned his attention back to his guests, a polite and apologetic smile up on his bearded face. "Please excuse me folks, feel free to take a look around in the meantime, this will be brief." He excused himself from the tourists then went around to Kirby, who handed over the phone. "Yes, Duck?"   
  
Duck sighed, this time in relief, as he heard Ned on the other end. "Hi, Ned. Listen, we got ourselves a situation over here, I think we have another abomination on our hands. Could you stop by as soon as possible and help out in searching for someone? We're gonna need all the help we can get."   
  
Ned stepped outside and out of earshot of the rest of the people inside when he heard Duck mention an abomination. He then checked his nails as he thought about it "Well... I'd have to see if I could pull myself away from my busy schedule--"   
  
" _Ned._ " Duck interrupted, it clear in his tone that he wasn't playing games. But when was he ever, Ned mused.   
  
"Alright, alright. I'll be over in a few." He spoke before he ended the call with Duck, returning back inside to Kirby as he handed the phone back. "Now you didn't hear it from _me_ , but good ol Duck Newton might have seen something that might be good for the Cryptonomica." He joked before winking. "I'm going to go out there and 'check it out'."

Kirby rolled his eyes, not believing him. "Well... don't come back empty handed. We always need more stuff to display and change up what's here from the usual." He said, then returned back to what he was writing for the Lamplighter.   
  
Duck put down the phone before taking a seat in the chair behind the desk, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers. He opened his eyes and watched Barry looking back out the windows. "Feel free to take a seat, Barry." He offered, unfortunately not knowing just how long they'll be waiting for reinforcement.   
  
Barry stared out the windows as his mind raced during Duck's calls. Lup was still out there, every moment they spent here waiting she could be in more danger, more trouble. He couldn't live with himself if something happened to her again. Sure they were liches but the fact that he didn't know where she was, the fact that no one knew what they were encountering here... it was driving him up the wall. He blinked as Duck told him to take a seat and sighed, eyeing one of the two other chairs that were placed before the desk Duck sat at. He looked back to Duck, fear in his eyes "How much longer?"   
  
Duck leaned forward a bit and examined the desk in front of him "I'm not sure--"   
  
" _How much longer, Duck?_ " Barry asked again, earning Duck's attention. Duck looked back into his face now, his own expression still stern but _trying_ to get across he was doing his best here too. "I can't say for certain. We are waiting on Ned to come here and we are waiting on a few other people to round up with Mama's help. They've fought shit like this before, with me. They have experience."   
  
Barry looked back out the window as he went to take a seat in one of the chairs. "Why can't they just, why can't we meet somewhere else and at least try to scan in that direction until then? Why can't we start right now?" Barry asked, desperation tugging at him, threatening to close his throat by how upset he was.

"Because that's not how we do things. That's how you wind up killed, Barry. We head out in teams, in parties. We keep each other within ear shot and with our walkie talkies so that we can listen out for if we find anything, or if something happens to one of us. There's more safety in numbers, and if you're going up against the sorta shit that is out here... that's your only shot of survival." Duck explained to him, getting up and going to start up a brew of some coffee.  
  
"If there's safety in numbers then what's... what's even the point of going out there, if what you're saying is true then she's-- she's--" Barry couldn't even finish his thought, and Duck turned around to see as the man doubled over with his head in his hands.   
  
"We don't know that. She could be fine. But even if she, if she wasn't, we would need to find her anyways right? Even if it were just for closure." Duck spoke, tone softer than it had been at any other point during his time with Barry. He didn't know what it was like to feel that broke up about losing someone let alone losing someone in this sort of fashion. He didn't _want_ to know. No one should have to know how something like that felt. Yet here Barry was. "We are gonna find her. We just can't be losing ourselves in the process, either. We are gonna find her." Duck said, tone sincere and honest. He'd do what he could. This was his duty, it was what he had to do and he had to keep his forest safe. Whatever's there would have hell to pay once they had found this guys wife and got them safely away. They'd put an end to whatever was out there, he was damn sure of it.

 

* * *

 

Back in the forest Lup and Barry had set up camp in, Lup was still running towards the second cry she heard. The pressure was fucking with her ears the closer she got, her head starting to ache, but she was determined to reach the child who was in trouble. She started to slow down as she neared the area, waiting and listening for a third call, but not even hearing the chirping of crickets anymore.  
  
Lup's flashlight pierced through the darkness, cutting into its depths and finally illuminating something... curious. About where she had heard the calls, she found a clearing in the woods. It wasn't that large, just a small field that wasn't populated by the trees and heavy foliage that could be found everywhere else, and in the center of this clearing laid what looked like a pond. As Lup carried on closer she noticed that the colors from her light reflecting off the surface of the pond did something odd. Light refracted back into a spectrum of rainbows that danced across the otherwise plain, glossy black liquid. It held a similar sort of look to oil, but did not move, suggesting it was thicker and heavier in substance.   
  
As her light moved about she saw as it wasn't limited to just this pond. Surrounding the pond appeared to be more splotches of this thick oil colored substance, spread out in all directions, some of it blanketing the nearby grass, some of it even resembling figures if she didn't know any better. That was impossible. Could it be that this was just a tar pit and the child might have slipped and fell into it? She couldn't say.   
  
Lup moved closer towards it, stepping with caution as she examined some of the black substance closest to her. She moved closer to the pond itself and stepped into what was just a little bit of spillage outside of it, lifting her boot to see it was very tar-like, sticky and thick in nature.

And, as she looked back, she saw the amount of tar that was once brimming the pond had depleted, now leaving about only half of it filling the pond. Curiously she stepped closer, wondering if now she could see if the child fell in or not, and she felt her ears pop as the pressure lightened.  
  
And she felt a cold chill drip down her neck like liquid, and moved her hand back to feel what was... thick, sticky, and black when she pulled her hand back to hold the flashlight to it. Her eyes widened in horror as she slowly turned her head around, looking forward and then up at a towering figure above her and almost all around her.   
  
This... this _abomination_ for lack of a better term stood high above Lup, several heads of what she could only describe as dragon-like in appearance tacked onto a sturdy, wide body that filled in the space behind where she stood, leaving her with no escape. The draconic heads of this figure lowered, more inky tar dropping from its form and landing near and splashing on her. And all at once its body morphed more, becoming more of a liquid state and less tangible, and the eyes that had been where they were expected to be on the heads of this beast were joined by more. More piercing bright eyes opened up across the body of the abomination.   
  
And they all watched her. And they observed as she stepped back and lost her footing when her boot slipped in more of the tar. They looked on as she stumbled and fell back into the half empty pond, the body shifting over the hole, glowing eyes and darkness being the last thing for her to see.   
  
She cried out one word. One cry. " _Help._ "   
  
Hoping someone. Hoping _anyone_ would hear her and save her from what she was facing. Save her from the nightmare she was reliving.   
  
She didn't hear as her voice was manipulated by the beast.   
  
She didn't hear her call be drowned out by many other calls mimicking her exact word.

She knew only the suffocation she now faced, the pain of her lungs unable to take in a breath, the realization this tar was surrounding her and crushing her like a boa constrictor.  
  
She was consumed in the darkness at the bottom of the oil pit. Lost in the void.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't see myself getting neck-deep into a preview of what was to come this early on, or see myself diving Lup headfirst into this but here we are. Guess we gotta see what happens next, huh?
> 
> As always, thank you guys so much for checking this out, and sorry for any feels in the process. Love y'all!


	3. The Calls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Duck and Barry piece together a bit more to their current situation. Lup comes two calls closer towards fate.

Back in the Monongahela forest ranger station that Duck called his usual office, Barry sat with his gaze still outside the window, eyes scanning for anyone out past the trees or coming from the paths in hopes their call for aid was heard and would be answered sooner than later. He held a cooling cup of coffee in his hands, thumbs absently running along the sides while his mind worried and chased its own tail.  
  
All this time he had been worried so deeply about Lup, about where she could be, it was all he could think of on top of the shock he faced during this entirely endeavor. His first priority was Lup. He had to find her and know she was okay and that she was safe, and to make sure they wouldn't become separated again. The last time they had been apart like this it had taken a decade to find her again, and he simply couldn't withstand something like that happening again. This would be the nightmare scenario until he had her back, and most of his worries involved this thought and this alone. He was wracked with fear of never seeing her again, or losing her like before. He _had to find her._  
  
Barry blinked and sighed as his eyes burned, unaware of just how intently he had been staring out the window into the forest’s edge. His grip loosened around the mug he held, realizing he had been holding onto it tighter than he really should have been. He then glanced back over to the desk Duck sat at, watching for a moment as the stoic man filled out a couple papers on his desk, then glanced back down into his coffee that he had hardly touched, viewing his reflection on the surface.  
  
His first priority was known. _Keep your cool, for now. Keep your cool and determine what's next to be prioritized._ he thought to himself, shutting his eyes. Next step would have to be putting together what did this. He had not seen the thing he went against up close, but he saw the cuts it made through their tent, he heard that it was able to mimic voices, and that's all he had to go off of.

Barry opened his eyes and looked back at Duck filling out paperwork, mind racing. Maybe if these other folks knew about what this thing was capable of they'd be able to figure that part out too. They did seem to have an idea that this forest wasn't exactly safe, at least from what Duck said, he has had experience with something to its likeness. And then, Barry blinked again at a thought. There was something Duck didn't know though, not involved with the monster after them, but involved with how Barry ended up here. Duck didn't know Barry. Duck didn't _recognize_ him or _acknowledge_ who he was when they had first met back out in the forest. Everyone on the plane Barry was from knew of their Century, knew of their feats and the events that took place, and yet here Duck was with absolutely no knowledge of it. The man was old enough, certainly it wasn't as if he couldn't have known if this was the same plane. _If this was the same plane._  
  
But this must not have been the same plane. How the _hell did they wind up here?_ How would he get _back?_ With no Starblaster? With no contact with the rest of his cohorts, with no contact with Lup, _yet,_ no we are not going down this road again of assuming she is... gone... It is just temporary-- but, _how did he get here?_  
  
Still, he had to check, he _had_ to make sure this was the correct theory. That Duck did in fact have no idea over who he was, or where he came from.  
  
"Say, uh, Duck?" Barry asked as he grabbed his attention, earning a slightly interested look from the man at the desk.  
  
"Yeah?" Duck asked, setting down his pen and raising his eyebrow to look at Barry, then reaching over for his own mug of coffee and taking a sip.  
  
"You legitimately do not know me, correct? And what forest exactly are we in?" Barry asked, serious as a funeral and eyes calculated behind the frames of his glasses.

"I know you just by finding you in the woods earlier with nothin’ else on you. And we are in the best place on earth, Monongahela Forest, in Kepler, West Virginia. It's a shame you don't remember, huh? Where exactly did you come from if you found yourself here but don't recall how you got here?" Duck asked, his eyebrows now knitting together as he tried to piece it. For Barry to have gotten where he was, and not realize where he was, and not have the supplies needed to hike from wherever Duck might be thinking he came from... that couldn't be it. It was almost impossible, and if it were, Barry would be in rough shape. _Very_ rough shape without those kinda supplies.  
  
Barry sighed and shut his eyes for a moment "Okay. Just, just checking. I uh, this, might come as a lot of news to you but I have reason to believe that I've been transported across planes." He said before opening his eyes and pushing up his glasses, watching for Ducks reaction before continuing. "The reason being is, back where I am from, everyone knows me. Literally, the entirety of the population there in that planar system knows me. It's, it's a very long story but my crew and I traveled and saved a lot of people including our planar system from something that devoured planes. Our story was quite literally broadcasted into the minds of everyone who existed in the planar system I call home. Everyone literally knows of us, and if you don't-- you don't know me... and if I have absolutely no idea of what forest this is or what makes it so great, then, I guess... that's gotta be it, huh." Barry said as he scratched at the top of his head for a moment, eyes having gone distant but refocusing now on the bewildered look on his company's usually weary expression.

Duck was silent as Barry explained himself and his reasoning, listening while Barry spoke of planes and some thing that devoured those planes. He watched the man before him speak in recollection, something clicking in his head that this man, whatever he was saying, was speaking truth. A truth that Barry knew but Duck was still wrapping his head around. After Barry had concluded his theory he leaned forward a little and glanced back down at the papers before him absently, trying to make sense of it all. How in the _hell_ did this guy get here then? Across planes? It wasn't such a hard theory to understand, he had walked through the gate to Silvane before, and that was an experience, but... how far a jump did this guy make? He composed himself a little before he finally spoke "So you are sayin' that you've come here from an entire different plane of existence?" He reiterated, crossing all t's and dotting all i's. After all he'd have to explain this with him to whoever shows to help them find his wife, apparently. Save them both some of the effort of explaining out if someone isn't following along.  
  
"That's exactly it." Barry said, offering a smile and a nod when Duck repeated back the key idea.  
  
"Huh... honestly? That sounds about right based on what we can piece together. Not exactly sure what brought you here though, do you have anything that strong back home that'd just bring you to a different plane?" Duck mulled it over, surprisingly calm about all of this as he took another drink from his mug.  
  
"No, we don't. At least, nothing that would teleport this far out of range." Barry spoke, eyebrows drawn together in thought.

"Huh..." Duck spoke, mind wandering back to the gate to Silvane for a moment, though he swore he wouldn't bring it up and certainly not to a stranger who dropped in from a different plane, this guy, even if he seemed harmless enough, still wasn't exactly trustworthy. He silently picked up his pen again and went back to writing when his phone chimed, letting both himself and Barry know someone wanted to get in touch. He picked up the phone and answered "Duck Newton, Monongahela Preservation Office... oh. Yeah that'd do splendidly, drop by as soon as you can." He spoke as he fiddled with the pen in his hand and looked out the window. "Yeah, Ned said he'd be down too, he should be here any moment actually... yeah, just come by as soon as possible." Another pause as he listened. "Alright, then. See you all soon." And with that he hung up and looked back to Barry.  
  
"Looks like we got ourselves a Search and Rescue team put together."

 

* * *

 

In the center of an otherwise open grassy clearing within the Monongahela forest, Lup's body lay still, motionless among the grass surrounding her with only the slow rise and fall of her chest as a sign she was still alive. Her consciousness slowly began to return as the feeling of the long grass brushing against her exposed face began to draw her back to the waking world. But as her eyes fluttered open to intense bright light filtered through the tall swaying grass, her memory of her previous encounter returned.  
  
She sat up with a gasp and put her forehead in her hand, leaning over as the images passed behind her eyes. The draconic figure of tar, the eyes, _so many eyes._ It couldn't have been a dream. She saw it all, she felt it, she felt the exhaustion of her lungs and burning in her legs from running, she felt the tar on her hand and neck, she felt the constriction around her ribs and torso.  
  
It had all been so _real_ and yet here she was. In the center of a different clearing, in pure daylight, surrounded by nothing but grass. She slowly got up to her feet and checked herself over. She was completely fine, no sign of the tar or of any harm, she _felt_ fine. What the actual hell happened?  
  
Her eyes scanned around the clearing, finding it to be simply just that. A wide open space with trees bordering the outskirts, the tall golden grass reached up to mid thigh and danced about her without a care in the world. And there was no sign of the tar like substance or the pond.  
  
And no sign of Barry. No... no _Barry._  
  
Lup brought a hand to her mouth as she scanned harder as if by some hopes he'd be there but her heart sunk in her chest at the realization she really was entirely alone. And she had absolutely _no ideas_ as to where she was or where Barry had gone. Maybe... maybe if she retraced her steps, maybe this was somehow all a dream, maybe he was just back in the forest from where she came but everything was so unfamiliar.

If she didn't know any better, this entire forest seemed completely unfamiliar to her. Even right down to the trees, it all felt so different. She couldn't place it. And she couldn't place where she could even head off towards to get an idea of where the camp was. She wracked her brain for an idea of where the sun was setting, and where they had walked from but the night had been so disorienting. She could have sworn she had gone North and that is where she came to the clearing with the tar pit... yeah, that seemed about right. So if she were to just go South, but what even was South? What time was it? The sun was of little help if she couldn't even get a register of what time it was and how long she had been out.  
  
Lup sighed and did a glance around again, trying to find something, _anything_ of some use, and that's when she heard it.  
  
She couldn't tell if her ears deceived her or if she heard Barry's voice coming from her left. Distant, but there, calling her name. Her heart soared and she turned to face the voice, listening for it again.  
  
And there it was. Clear as day, yet again, Barry calling her name. A smile crossed her face and tears practically filled her eyes as she began to walk towards the sound. She heard as a couple other voices chimed in here and there, coming from the same direction. And they were unfamiliar but calling her name too. They must be searching for her, Barry must have found help... of _course_ he did.  
  
And she could cry over how happy she was to hear the voices, to hear Barry's voice, to hear her name on their tongues. She ran forward into the forest, and finally she spoke up when she was close enough they should hear her. "Barry!" She called, then came to a dead halt.  
  
For when she called, she heard more than just her own voice. When she called, she heard the choir of several voices joining hers, speaking the same name in unison in perfect timing with her voice.

The voices seemed to have surrounded her, and a quick look left her to see that nothing was there.  
  
She stood still and listened, heart pounding as she waited to hear a response, but heard nothing else coming from the forest before her.  
  
Lup's eyes searched and searched, waiting and watching but she saw nothing before her. Just a seemingly unending forest. No sign of tar, but no sign of Barry either.  
  
On any other moment of time she could reflect how beautiful it may have looked, how lovely the scene before her would seem. A harmless little forest that was almost a perfect scene before her, fit for a postcard. Sunlight streaming through unfamiliar trees and laying out patchwork light across the forest floor, which was scattered with dirt and wild grasses, fungi and flowers scattered as far as she could see. The shadows seemed dark but it was to be expected under the cover of the trees. The high contrast felt like a picture perfect setting for what could be a fairytale. It would be gorgeous at any other moment.  
  
But as a moment passed with no answer, and no idea as to what just happened with her own call, she wished to be anywhere else.  
  
Does she dare cry out again? Does she dare try to find help? Maybe with whatever it was amplifying her voice, they'd hear her, maybe they'd help her.  
  
She had to try.  
  
Lup called out again, calling for whoever it was who had been heading out her way to look for her. "Barry! Help! Anyone!" She called, her first two words consumed and surrounded with the same chorus of other voices, but the final word came crystal clear in just her own voice.  
  
She blinked and glanced around the empty space once more to confirm she was alone, then listened carefully ahead of her, hearing some noise of something approaching through the grass and twigs snapping quietly.

 _Finally,_ she thought. It was something. It was someone out there who heard her. Yet... despite this hope she held in her heart that she had been found, she still couldn't shake the suspicion and fear that her previous dreams had left her with.  
  
All she could do was wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for a slightly shorter chapter than the previous two, I decided to divide the events I was going to toss into just this one chapter into two separate ones since it felt like it was enough ground to cover to do so, and I love leaving off on a little action or suspense. B) With that being said, the accompanying chapter will be up very very soon.
> 
> As always, thank you so very much for reading and checking this out!


	4. The Reception

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The search party assembles. Calls are lost, and calls are heard.

Barry and Duck awaited the arrival of Duck's companions that he asked to join on the search party for Lup, carrying out quiet small talk over more coffee during that time. Ned was the first to arrive, coming with a small camcorder he kept concealed in his jacket. He was introduced to Barry but they had decided to hold off on the explanation until everyone was there, to be sure they wouldn't be repeating themselves and save their energy for the initial search for Lup.  
  
Mama arrived shortly after with Dani and Aubrey accompanying her, prepared to listen to what Barry had to say regarding his encounters with the apparent abomination.  
  
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Barry." Mama spoke as she shook Barry's hand "I wish it was under different circumstances. Now tell me, can you explain what exactly happened last night?"

Barry shook Mama's hand and nodded before addressing everyone who was standing just outside the ranger station with him. "Okay... last night, my wife and I had gone camping our first night of our honeymoon, in a forest just outside of our neighborhood in our plane. We went out for a stroll away from our camp and heard some movement nearby before we came back to camp to find three perfectly cut gashes in the side of our tent. They weren't jagged, or anything, just... perfect. Like a robot or something did them. Anyways... we were about to pack up and leave because that alone was a sign for us to not stay and then we heard a call that sounded like it was from a child... Lup, my wife, she just ran off towards it because she didn't want to leave knowing a child was in danger. I chased after her and caught up when she heard it again and then ran faster. This time, I, I lost her. I couldn't catch up and I couldn't even see her light after some time and I couldn't hear anything. I called and called for her but she..." Barry said as he paused to try to keep it together to explain the rest. "I heard one last call, a call saying 'Help' but it wasn't like the others. It was the only thing I could hear and it sounded like it was a bunch of people calling that word at the _exact_ same time. Perfectly in sync. Then the pressure dropped and my ears popped and I could hear again. It was so loud and I was so afraid I lost her, I just kept running towards where I thought I _heard_ her and I ended up losing my footing on something and I fell, well, I fell down _a cliff._ And I definitely wasn't going to survive that fall, I should be dead. I landed at the bottom, my eyes closed and I then woke up moments later here with Duck staring down at me." He said as he glanced to Duck. He looked back at Mama "That's exactly what I experienced. I have reason to believe that I was transported to this plane immediately after this fall, but I have no explanation how or why, or how I'm alive after such a fall."

Everyone was quiet while Barry recounted what he went through before, and Mama gave a nod as he explained his own theory. "That sounds about right. I personally haven't seen anything like this, at least not the planar transport in such a manner, but it doesn't surprise me one bit. Whatever you and your wife encountered last night is probably something we can take on here, or something we are used to. You sound experienced in the way things like this function, yourself, which must be why you're keeping your cool right now as I'm talking about this too." She earns an otherwise nervous nod from Barry. "That makes it a little easier on that matter then, saves us beating around the bush and spending unnecessary time explaining further. Now, the last place you saw your wife was back in the other forest, do you have reason to believe she was also transported here, for any reason?"  
  
Barry sighs and pushes his glasses further up his nose "Honestly... being frank with you, no. But whatever was out there that got to me, and transported me, it was powerful and that's reason enough to give me some sort of hope I can find her here. I don't know if it got to her sooner since she was closer towards the calls well before I was. She could have gotten here even before I did. But I... I _need_ to find her. I went so long without her, she was gone... ** _she was gone for so long,_** _I_ ** _need_** _to find her._ " He spoke as his voice began to dip into a raspy whisper that was still the same volume as his normal tone of voice. He blinked as he realized he was losing slight control over his form, at least in the form of his voice, and quickly recomposed himself. He looked back up to Mama, who didn't seem phased by whatever just happened, and saw in that reaction that he could in fact trust her in where her experience lies.

"We will do our best to try to find her. All we can do is put our heads together for good cause and try to make sense of this and how to return you back home with your wife, and take down this abomination." Mama said to Barry before she addressed everyone else "We will head out and try to find Barry's wife, Lup. Standard formation, we will be pairing up and searching together. No separating from your search partner, and report anything you see or hear while out there."

 

* * *

 

The search party set off in a lateral formation, spreading out distantly enough that they'd cover the most ground, but staying within what would be earshot of one another. The end goal, of course, was to locate Lup and try to piece together what had happened once they had her accounts... or found her body, but they were not to risk one another's lives in the process, leaving this formation to be the safest.  
  
In the middle of the charge, Barry and Mama centered out, sticking a little closer as they assigned themselves together as part of the buddy system. Mama had proven herself to be knowledgeable of the forest and the abominations that resided within it, and Barry felt most comfortable being assigned with her as part of this. As they had discussed previously, they were all made aware that he had been transported across planes, and she had the most experience out of all of them regarding such subjects, even if she only knew of Silvane. Barry knew what he experienced the night before, and Lup's life was hanging in the balance. He trusted everyone to an extent, and if circumstances had been different, Barry would have probably found himself to be more comfortable in Duck's presence since he was the one he had known the longest from this plane. But there was no denying that Mama was the better choice for taking on whatever they may find if it is not Lup. It was only logical in his mind.  
  
Off just ear shot left of where Mama and Barry had started, Dani and Aubrey began on their own investigation, keeping close enough to the rest of the party to be sure they wouldn't fall out of hearing range.

Aubrey seemed off put by the way Barry spoke about missing his wife even still, the accounts of his composure breaking still setting her off kilter, but she tried to keep it cool for sake of staying strong, and keeping her emotions in check. Barry's voice breaking into what sounded almost like a broken whisper that was too loud haunted her, and it was clear to Dani after they reached further into the woods that Aubrey's mind wasn't entirely on task.  
  
Dani reached her hand out and took Aubrey's hand in hers, giving it a light squeeze. "Aubrey... what's on your mind? We gotta stay focused to find Lup here but... we can't do it if this is going to bug you."  
  
Aubrey, with her eyes intently trained in front of her but not _seeing,_ nearly jumped out of her skin as Dani took her hand. She let out a breath as she realized she was fine and looked back to Dani with... with fear in her eyes. "I... I want to say it's nothing but, just, something about that guy? He was nice enough. Seemed _good_ , I don't _think_ he has anything to do with causing problems here but... somethin' about how his voice changed when he was that upset, that wasn't... hell what would I know about natural now, right? It could have just been some weird alien thing since he's basically from another entire plane, I--" She spoke before her words were cut off by Dani.

"Aubrey, you have every right to be hesitant. Part of dealing with all of what we are up against out here leaves us with, well, that as a side effect. We need to proceed everything with caution but if it's any consolation, I really think he's telling the truth regardless, and that he really is just... scared. Looking for his wife. Maybe that voice thing was part of his stuff from a different plane, maybe it wasn't. But he really just seemed scared, and we got to help if even Mama feels similarly. Like, when there's doubt and you don't trust your own judgement, trust her. She's gotten us out of bad stuff before." Dani said to Aubrey as the continued walking in the direction they were instructed, her eyes scanning before her but glancing at Aubrey once she had said her piece.  
  
Aubrey looked back to Dani and gave a small smile before squeezing her hand this time. "Thank you, Dani. If you and Mama both feel that it's okay then, then that's enough for me. I trust your judgement completely." She said before she looked forward again, walking hand in hand with her girlfriend while they traversed the forest in search of Lup.  
  
Aubrey heard the sounds of Barry, Mama, and distantly Ned and Duck calling out occasionally for Lup, and figured they should be joining in as well. She called for the woman, voice carrying out through the forest alongside her distant companions, and Dani joined as well.  
  
Dani and Aubrey proceeded to walk and call, not seeing or hearing anything out of the normal for some time until all at once they stood still in their tracks simultaneously and held their heads and ears in immense pain. Both felt at the exact same moment that the pressure had dropped or increased so quickly that it built in their ears and caused an immediate headache, both taken aback by the intensity of the sudden pain, and how fast it had taken place.

After some moments yawning and regulating their heads, and getting over the ringing in their ears onset by the headaches, they regained composure and looked to each other with concern and pain.  
  
Aubrey, after seeing Dani had the exact same expression on her face, asked "Did you feel that too?" And she earned a confused and scared nod from her girlfriend, causing her to look back around their surroundings for any sort of indication as to what just happened and why it happened to them both so fast. They didn't drop down a cliff, they didn't suddenly appear ontop of a mountain, why the _hell_ did the pressure just fuck with them?  
  
Then Aubrey's eyes widened as she recalled something about this happening to Barry. She looked back to Dani and opened her mouth to talk but found her voice was gone. She tried to yell and Dani simply looked on mortified, gripping tighter to her hand before they both searched for whatever could be hunting them in that very moment.  
  
They searched and looked for any sign of _anything_ but saw only a too-quiet peaceful forest, and heard absolutely none of the sounds that would have come with it.  
  
They had no voices to utilize, they couldn't hear each other, but they did have each other.  
  
So they stood hand in hand, in silence.

 

* * *

 

Off to the right of Barry and Mama set out, Duck and Ned started off on their search for the man's wife, for the most part sticking on task due only to the fact Duck didn't want to veer off of the subject at hand for too long.

  
After all, the sooner this all cleared up, the sooner they could head back to relatively normal lives. As normal as it probably could ever be without searching for some guys wife who may or may not be dead, and may or may not have been a victim to a monster that they were both unfamiliar with to the extent of their knowledge. Still, Duck had high hopes this would blow over soon.  
  
Ned, however, saw it as an opportunity. Glad with the fact he had brought his camcorder again, he took the entire tale Barry had to say with the appropriate amount of empathy, but still saw business to be had if he could manage to get a good shot of whatever it was out there that had been terrorizing Barry and his wife. Ned had his camera at the ready and held small conversations with Duck about the appearance of whatever this thing could have looked like based on the accounts Barry made.  
  
"So, Duck, what sort of a creature do you think could have caused three perfect gashed along the side of a tent?" Ned asked quizzically as he glanced at his companion, walking about the forest and attempting to keep things lighter than they actually were, but doing so with the wrong topics.  
  
"Well, I don't know Ned, given we have never been up against this sort of thing based on what Barry's told us, and no bear that I know, natural or abomination, would be capable of such a perfect set of gashes. You're the cryptid expert, after all. Why ask me?" Duck spoke, begrudgingly entertaining the conversation with Ned. He _really_ didn't want to have this sort of conversation right now when they should be focused.

Ned heard the tone in Ducks voice and sighed as he looked forward again "I dunno, you do live in these exact forests, even if that forest wasn't exactly this forest I figured maybe you'd have some insight--"  
  
"Look, Ned, can we just not talk about it right now. Let's focus on finding this guys wife then get done what needs to be done. We're not out here hunting for the damn thing, not yet anyways. You know we are probably gonna take this down later and come up face to face with it somehow. No sense asking all these questions if they'll be answered." Duck said with just a little hint of annoyance. _Man_ his head was beginning to hurt.  
  
Ned nodded and went quiet for a moment while he continued his search with Duck, mind trying to come up with more to talk about that wouldn't be related to the monster... and coming up empty. He glanced back to Duck, wondering if he could somehow get away with trying to talk about it again and decided it might not hurt... "What abou--"  
  
" _Ned._ " Duck said with irritation.  
  
"Alright, _fine,_ " Ned said with a sigh "You're no fun." He said while surveying their surroundings but finding nothing but the pristine, ordinary forest surrounding them. He then called for Lup a few times before Duck was joining in as well, despite the headache Duck was beginning to feel.  
  
It wasn't until they were reaching further into the forest that Duck finally paused for a moment to search for if he had something to take for the headache, but as soon as he found some ibuprofen his headache dissipated completely. He looked up and saw Ned was still walking, having not seen that Duck paused, and called after him to find that his voice didn't escape his throat.

Come to think of it, he was surrounded by silence, and Ned had finally stopped ahead in what he thought was just him realizing that Duck wasn't with him. Duck came closer and watched Ned's expression to realize that Ned stopped because he couldn't hear anything either. Duck looked off to their left, where Mama and Barry should have still been and called again in their direction, but no sound escaped from him.  
  
Ned and Duck looked to each other and gave a shrug before glancing about their surroundings again. They knew this was something to do with what was after them, but they were together, and they weren't far from where everyone else was.  
  
They stood in silence, searching for answers.

 

* * *

 

Mama and Barry had kept on task through the duration. Both were aware of how important this task was, for the safety of Lup in Barry's case, and the safety of Kepler as far as Mama was concerned. Barry had knowledge of his run in with the monster, Mama had knowledge of the monsters they have faced in this same forest before, and both knew it was imperative to find Lup as a missing puzzle piece that could share light on this situation.  
  
And likewise, it was crucial they give this task their undivided attention. The pair kept ever watching eyes on their surroundings while they pushed forward, leaving no stone unturned in their search, and calling out for Lup intermittently whenever they felt they had covered enough ground to do so.  
  
Barry had begun to feel the weight of whatever little sleep he may have gotten in the transition from one plane to this one, but rest could come later, rest would come after Lup was found and after she was safe, back in his arms. Rest would wait forever if it had to.  
  
Mama kept pace with her search partner, aware of his sleep deprivation but knowing to talk him out of this was a lost cause. She knew how determined he was from their discussion earlier and knew he was a key factor to consider in tracking down not only Lup, but the very monster itself. And while he was needed for this search effort, she did keep close eye on making sure he was alright to keep proceeding, making sure he was alert and not about to trip and fall or do something else stupid. And much to her relief, he stayed on guard. She never voiced it but she did wonder just how much this girl must have meant to him if he was this strong willed and determined to find her.

They continued on for quite some time, mostly in silence with exception to their calls for Lup. And after a while of these ministrations they finally heard something. Barry stopped dead in his tracks at the sound of his own name being called by several other voices before him, body freezing and breaking out into a cold sweat.  
  
_It knew his name,_ and that could only mean one thing... _No._  
  
His throat closed up as tears formed in his eyes and he stood stock still while he waited and listened, hoping and _praying_ that his realization wasn't true. That this thing didn't take information from Lup somehow to know his name. Hoping he wasn't about to go against a monster that most likely had killed his wife. This plane functioned differently, and while death only meant recreating a body back on his home plane, he didn't know how his form as a lich would work here. He didn't know how _magic_ worked here still. Lup was _vulnerable_ as far as this was concerned and she could-- she could be dead...  
  
Mama stopped walking and listened as well with wide eyes as the call sounded similar to how Barry had explained it being multiple voices at once. She glanced back to find Barry frozen in fear and despair, then glanced forward again to where the call came from, staying still as to not separate from him. Her attention was drawn away as she saw Ned and Duck approaching from the side, both of them silent and in a sort of shock as well. Then she looked over to see Aubrey and Dani finally emerging from the shadows to the other side, both looking fearful, but staying silent. Mama had assumed they heard it too, and that this was the reasoning to their reactions. She gave them a small reassuring nod before she held a hand up to let them know to stay paused here, no one would be proceeding until they were all ready.

Then as she turned and listened once more, a second call rang out from before them. Two words caught within several voices, then one last word ringing out, a woman's voice, requesting "Anyone!"  
  
This time, Duck, Ned, Aubrey and Dani were able to hear her voice and her voice alone, as if it snapped them out of the trance. Barry, likewise, dropped the despair in place of hope that this was in fact his wife's voice calling to him. It sounded so much like her, and... and even if it wasn't and this monster killed him he had nothing to lose. He had to try, he had to get her _back._  
  
And because of this, unprompted, he ran past Mama and towards the calls he had heard, headfirst into the unknown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for reading guys! I really appreciate y'all who are reading this and I am really having a blast with how this is all unfolding. B)
> 
> Also a little bit of a self promo, I have put together a playlist on spotify for this fic, found here; https://open.spotify.com/user/hauntedbarks/playlist/7yttDupbpeRXN2xOv6qCd8?si=-7KaX9zBTVKEEwBOiAkADQ  
> Feel free to give it a listen for some lyric and genre content themed around the fic, it's what I listen to to get into the vibe!  
> The cover art for it is also art I have done for the fic, found on tumblr here; https://volbeatic.tumblr.com/post/173292250550/volbeatic-made-some-art-of-a-scene-from-a-fic-i
> 
> Again thank you for reading! See y'all in the next chapter for some more shenanigans. B)


	5. The Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paths cross, details are collected, the party splits once more and someone new shows up.

Barry's feet carried him forward into the unknown again, and much like the last time he had followed where he thought Lup had disappeared, his heart was filled with uncertainty and dread. He was terrified by what he may or may not find find, mind racing and wondering if the monster had simply transported her like it did with himself, or if it was still using her voice or essence as a trap to get him to run headfirst into doom.   
  
Either way, the tiny ounce of hope within him is what kept him running past the trees and towards the direction the calls had come from. His heart pounded within his chest as he drew closer to its origin, hoping and praying that he might see his wife there, and that she would be okay and unharmed. And he found it funny in a distorted sense how history repeated itself, and wished that this would be the end to them being separated by uncontrolled forces for good. He finally paused as he saw the silhouette of a figure up ahead closer to what appeared to have been a clearing in the distance between the trees. His gaze adjusted to the light a little more before he gasped.   
  
He had found her. He had  _ found Lup. _   
  
Barry looked around cautiously, unable to see or hear anything aside from the average forest ambience, and then proceeded again. He started walking and saw the figure walking towards him as well. Then, they jogged. Then, they ran full tilt towards one another until  _ finally _ their bodies collided less than gracefully but resolved into a tight embrace, Barry's arms wrapping tight around what truly was Lup.   
  
She began to cry against Barry, burying her face into his shoulder while her arms gripped tightly around him. "Bear... Barry I'm so so sorry, I missed you, I--" she cried but she could hardly form words now, choked up by the immense cocktail of emotions she was feeling.

She had missed him, she was so afraid of whatever it was she encountered, she felt so guilty for leaving Barry like that again, she was relieved to have found him once more... it was all so very much and Lup couldn't hold it back.   
  
"Shhh, I-- I know, babe, it's okay now... I missed you so much, I'm right here. I'm right here, Lup." Barry spoke as he began to cry with her, more relieved than anything that his hopes were heard, that Lup was  _ here. _ And that she was okay-- Was she okay though?    
  
Barry pulled back to inspect Lup's face and check that she looked alright. Nothing was out of place, she seemed as perfect as ever. "Are you alright? Are you hurt or anything?" He asked anyways, his brows pulled together as he evaluated the emotions in her eyes.   
  
Lup looked back up at him before she smiled and wiped a couple of her tears "Gods, after the night I had... Barry, I should be dead, I should be in lich form right now probably and I don't know why but, I am okay. What about you? Are you okay?" She asked as she reached a hand up to wipe away a couple of tears from her love's face, keeping her hand there after to hold it.   
  
Barry resolved into a small nervous laugh "Honestly... same. I fell down the side of a cliff chasing after you, I don't know why we are here or how we are okay but... I'm just glad you're here and... We need to get back to everyone." He said before he stole a kiss from Lup and pulled back to stare into her face, not making a move to pull away entirely though.   
  
Lup kissed him back before looking up into his face in curiosity. "Who's 'we'?" She asked before she heard another man clear his throat from behind Barry.

Barry pulled away as he heard what must have been Duck clear his voice, glancing back behind to see everyone had caught up. "Uhhh... that's 'we'. When I first wound up here, I met Duck, and he took me back to the ranger station and put together this search and rescue team to try to find you." He explained loosely as Duck gave a small, polite wave and a nod of his head.   
  
"Pleasure. You must be Lup?" Duck asked as he looked at the woman with Barry, eyes unable to avoid glancing at her elongated, pointed ears.    
  
"Yes, thank you, all of you for coming out to find me." She said honestly as she glanced about the unfamiliar faces, a little bewildered at the fact they were all humans from the look of it. It wasn't such a big deal, but she was used to a mingled crowd by now of other races and found it odd the man who had just talked to her was now staring intently at her ears.   
  
"It is no problem. We only hoped we could have found you sooner, Barry here was worried sick about you." Mama spoke as she approached with a small smile.   
  
"Yeah, that sounds like him." Lup said as she grinned at Barry and nudged him, watching as he rubbed the back of his neck in slight embarrassment.    
  
Mama smiled at them before Duck put a hand on her shoulder and motioned for her to move on with some questioning, or get the show on the road. He knew it wasn't necessarily safe out here still. Mama just sighed and her smile fell as she addressed Lup once more. "Lup... would you and Barry mind coming back with us to the Amnesty Lodge? It would be a nice, safe place for us to discuss what happened and figure out how to get you both back home, and for us to piece together just what it was that was after you."    
  
Barry and Lup exchanged looks before Lup nodded. "Of course. If there's anything we can do to help, we will."    
  
"We'd like to get back home and to our honeymoon plans just as much as you want us to get out of your hair." Barry agreed with another nervous laugh.

"Of course, everyone follow me then. This time no need to be splitting off, we can move as a group since we have found Lup, and stay safer that way." Mama instructed before she nodded in the direction, everyone including Barry and Lup starting to head back with her.

 

* * *

 

Their walk to the Lodge was less eventful compared to the action that had previously taken place. There were no further headaches, hearing loss, or giant tarlike abominations crossing their paths, leaving them to get from point A to point B rather quickly, all things considered. The entire party, now including the once missing person joining them, arrived to the Lodge and entered inside. Once inside, they found the usual crowd bustling about or tending to their usual business. A few of them seemed a bit nervous or tentative about the new visitors, but with a quick nod, Mama set their minds at ease and they continued about their business.   
  
Mama didn't waste a moment introducing them to the lodge at the time, gesturing Lup and Barry ahead with her while she led the way towards her office. Duck, Ned, Aubrey and Dani proceeded to follow her in as well, and all but Mama glanced about the space once they stepped inside. The space was tidier than it had been, as though Mama had the time to clean it up herself, or have someone help her with it.

However, this wouldn't last too long, as she was quick to begin searching through the drawers of her desk to pull out her voice recorder and a few pieces of paper, both blank and already filled with notes she had taken previously. She then turned her attention back to Lup, taking a seat at the desk with her papers and starting the recorder before her. "Please, dear, take a seat. I promise not to take too long with this, I know whatever it was you just went through was probably a lot to take in, but we do need to discuss it so that we can determine how to proceed from here. We already have Barry's accounts of what happened, but we still would like all the information we could possibly gather. Take your time, tell us all that you can." Mama said as she nodded for Lup to join her in sitting in one of the chairs before her desk.   
  
Lup looked to Barry for a moment while Mama spoke before she looked back to her and nodded, taking her seat in front of the desk. "It... it was a lot, I'll do the best I can." Lup promised, offering a nervous smile to Mama who smiled back reassuringly in response.    
  
"That is all I ask." Mama said with a kindness that reached her eyes.

Lup sighed before her eyes went a little distant, trying to recount the previous nights events to Mama. "Okay... Barry and I were camping on our honeymoon back in a forest that wasn't like the one here I woke up in. We had went off to go check out a gorgeous spot Barry had found a short distance from the camp, leaving it unattended. When we came back... when we came back we found a huge gash in the side of our tent. It looked almost mechanical, and we were  _ certain _ there was nothing out in those woods. There had never been reports of dragons or any sort of--" Lup spoke but was then interrupted by Aubrey who had been standing off to the side with Dani.    
  
"I'm, I'm very sorry to interrupt but did you say  _ dragons? _ " She asked, curiosity and fear both piqued within her mind at the visual of a  _ dragon _ being in the forest.    
  
"I, yes. I did say dragons, and I will explain." Lup said, ears dipping slightly to the side in the tiniest bit.    
  
"Okay, I am sorry we just... we don't  _ have _ dragons here, at least not from what I've heard of or seen." Aubrey spoke as she glanced about everyone else in the room then back to Lup, genuinely more curious now than anything, trying to pass in her tone that she held no ill-intent by her questioning. "What, what kind of world do you come from if you don't mind me asking? What uh... what... race are you?"   
  
Dani gave Aubrey a quick jab with her elbow and a pointed look and Aubrey was quick to regret bringing up her previous questions "I am sorry, Lup, I don't mean to pry, I didn't mean-"   
  
"No, it's fine. I'm an elf, from Faerun, what do you mean by what world--" Lup began to ask but was cut off by a clearing of Mama's throat before her.   
  
"We can carry out this talk later, but first, we need to hear Lup's accounts without influence from anyone else. Please, carry on, Lup." Mama said, first addressing everyone else before addressing Lup.

Lup nodded and continued on. "After we saw the gash in our tent, we were about to pack up and just leave altogether but then we heard something. It was like a call for help somewhere out in the woods and I didn't want to think of the fact someone out there might be fending off whatever did that to our tent alone. We had to help, I had to help and I ended up chasing after the sound. I paused ahead and waited for Barry to catch up and to listen for the next cry, which I heard, and then ran after again. It sounded like a kid, like a child crying out for someone and I... I didn't even look back, I just ran, like adrenaline just sort of kicked in.  I remember that the sounds of the forest were off. That pressure was messing with my ears and it was growing quieter and quieter the closer I got to where the call should have come from. My head was  _ killing _ me, it hurt so much... I uh, I finally got to a clearing in the woods and saw what looked to be like a pond in front of me. I walked closer to it and when my light shined on it, it looked like a pond of black tar, but it was weird like... There were all sorts of colors reflecting back from it, looking back on it now that I am not actually near it, it would have been pretty. Almost like how oil reflects back color." She mused for a little bit before she sighed and fell back on track "I remember feeling afraid that the child could have fallen into that pond of tar and drowned so I moved a little bit closer, just trying to see if maybe there was any sign of them but I remember stepping in it and looking at it closer on my foot then looking back at the pond and a bit of that tar was gone from the pit."

It was now that her eyes seemed far more distant, and her voice was growing a little more tense, afraid of revisiting what happened to her but still trying to do this. She knew it was important for everyone, imperative that she cooperate and give them as much information as possible, so she repressed the emotions and pushed on while everyone around hung to her every word in complete silence.   
  
"Then... then I felt something on my neck, and I touched it and looked at it on my hand and it was the same... It was the same exact tar. I finally looked around from the pond to face whatever it was behind me and I saw it. I saw what looked to be a hydra made entirely out of this tar, and it was  _ huge _ . It was still evident it was made out of tar, bits of it were still dripping and oozing down but, it maintained the form. Then the heads of the hydra came down and came closer to me, and it was losing some of that form, turning more and more like the tar it was made out of and I saw eyes starting to open up all across its body. I was backing away because I was deftly terrified of it, and I must have lost my footing, all I remember then was just, my fear, crying for help, and falling. I fell back and slipped down into that same pond I was talking about before, and the rest of the tar that was once the hydra came forward and covered over the top of the pond and..."

Lup finally came back, her eyes now filled with tears, but no longer distant. She looked across at Mama and gave a fearful smile "I am not afraid of death. I've died more than anyone should really ever have to. But I have never been this terrified to die. I  _ swore _ that I drowned in that pit. I felt it. I should have died and become a lich again but instead I woke up in the field. I don't know what happened. I don't want to be here. I just want to go back and forget any of this happened and move on with my life, far, far away from whatever that thing was." She said, surprised by her own reaction to all of this. She was emotional, that was normal. But she was so frequently the one who fought back, who took this on headfirst, it was almost uncharacteristic of herself for it to happen like, like  _ this _ . And that spoke volumes to just how fearful she was.   
  
And it terrified Barry from where he stood just behind her,  _ knowing _ this. And for once he tried to be the strong one, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze to tether her down and remind her that she wasn't alone here, and they were at the very least still together.

And that was what she needed to collect herself enough to finally be done with it. Mama nodded and stopped the recording before looking to Barry and Lup both. "Thank you both very much for your help with this, I know it isn't easy telling us what happened, but we are here to try to help. And we will do whatever we possibly can to keep helping. I know this has weighed a lot on you two, and so I would like to offer you a room here for the time being to just rest and take it easy, you both have earnt it. I will be discussing with Ned, Duck, Aubrey and Dani here just how we will proceed, but in the meantime I will have Barclay show you your room. If you are up to it he can also show you the lodge and introduce you to some of the folk who stay here as well. Please take it easy, and know that you are in safe hands." She spoke as she gave them a smile. She then looked over to Dani "Dani, could you take Barry and Lup to Barclay for me please? Ask him to show these two their rooms, and answer any questions they may still have regarding the Lodge."    
  
Dani nodded and went to lead both Barry and Lup out of the room, returning to stand back beside Aubrey once they were with Barclay.   
  
Once Dani returned Mama sighed and leaned back in her seat as she mulled over the information Lup shared with them. "A tar monster with lots of eyes and the ability to look like native creatures? Sounds awfully familiar." She said as she looked at her small team. "I still have no idea about the transporting back and forth through planes, but we can at the very least prepare for taking on another abomination that's susceptible to fire."    
  
Ned brushed his hand across his beard for a moment before he smiled "I believe I still have some 'bait' lying around, as well as some gasoline. I might be able to salvage my wookie costume as well if need be."

Mama smiled at Ned's help "That sounds perfect. I think what I may do is assign you and Duck to grab those supplies in the time being, and I will head to the gate to Silvane to speak with them, see if there is any information regarding the plane hopping. Aubrey, Dani? Would you two care to accompany me?"   
  
Aubrey grinned at Dani and nodded back at Mama "Sure thing, Mama. You know I would be glad to help with the fire bit, too."   
  
"Perfect. We will let Lup and Barry rest for a bit while we go ahead and split up, and take this on as well. Let's not waste time, but be careful out there, and be sure to have your walkie talkies on and at the ready."    
  
And with that, the party separated, leaving Lup and Barry behind to find their room with Barclay and rest, Duck and Ned to head back towards the Cryptonomica to obtain what supplies were there to take on the abomination, and Mama, Dani and Aubrey to head out towards the gate to Silvane on the search for more information.    
  
What could possibly go wrong?

 

* * *

 

Duck and Ned set out on their own mission to retrieve the items Ned still had that could help them take on the familiar foe they have battled before. The walk back started with awkward silence between them both, carrying on without word and cautiously keeping watch of the forest around them. The forest wasn't quite as silent, and for that they were grateful. The sounds of late afternoon insects buzzing and birds chirping in the canopy above them put their minds at rest that they weren't near any sort of abomination. No pressure changes occurred and everything, to their relief, was as normal as either of them could hope.   
  
Ned had abandoned his task of recording whatever was out here, knowing now what they were up against and wanting to be free of distraction should something come up. Sure, he valued his business and all, but he valued his life as well, and after the exchange he had with Duck earlier in the forest, he didn't want to brush over the same subjects he had.    
  
The two walked for a good distance in quiet contemplation before Ned finally spoke, addressing the elephant in the room. "Listen, Duck, I didn't mean to touch on anything earlier. I know we had a task at hand and it was important to stick on it, much like it's important now--" He began to talk but was then cut off by his companion.

"Ned, it's alright." Duck spoke in his usual drawl, his tone less pressing as it had been before, but still tired. "I apologize for my own bit of... irritation earlier too. I shouldn't have been as harsh, it's just, I just want the peace back. I figured the sooner we get this abomination situation under control, found Lup, got them back home to their plane or whathaveyou, I could go back to just minding my own business in the forest. At least until the next abomination arrived. It was kinda stupid of me to rush it that far, but we already found Lup and we are making good progress." He spoke with a sigh, surprisingly optimistic given they had come at the very least that far. He glanced ahead before them around the forest he adored so, the faintest of smiles on his features. "That and I was getting a terrible headache earlier. I'm still kinda spooked 'bout that headache bein' from that abomination messing with our hearing, and I'm tryin' not to think about that. Good at forgetting about weird shit and all. But... I'm still sorry for lashin' out at you over all of it."   
  
Ned listened to him while he spoke before he chimed in "Its understandable, and honestly that whole thing was a shitshow. I hate to burst your bubble of not wanting to think about it but, back there where we found Lup, the abomination must have been nearby, I mean everything she was talking about added up to your headache thing and the loss of sound--"   
  
"Ned... please, before I get another headache and regret ever agreeing to partner up with you." Duck spoke as he glanced back at his companion, but his tone wasn't as heavy, almost mirthful in a dark sense.   
  
Ned gave him a grin "Hey, you're stuck with me now, Duck! The time for regret should have been the moment we headed out of the Lodge." He joked with the man beside him.

Duck smiled a little more noticeably before he continued on "You're right. But honestly it's alright. I'd rather just not deal with it right now and focus on grabbing the supplies. Later after we've torched the damn thing I can reflect in terror and torment. I do feel 'nother headache comin' on though so let me take somethin' for it right quick." Duck said as he paused with Ned and took out the same ibuprofen he was going to take previously. He followed it down with a drink of water from the flask he had on him then nodded for them to keep going.   
  
As they carried on, however, Duck's headache only became worse. It was easy enough to assume that the ibuprofen wouldn't take effect immediately, but it should have kicked in the further they got towards to Cryptonomica. Instead, his head was throbbing, the headache developing into a full-blown migraine and Duck was left wondering if maybe he just wasn't drinking enough water, maybe it was just the lighting or he was getting sick, he was about ready to blame it on  _ anything _ but instead all his thoughts ran back to the facts that Ned had been saying, Lup's accounts of her headache. With dread pooling in his gut he took a step from the path and leaned against a nearby tree, ignoring Ned's look of concern while he took out his canteen again, drinking from it before pouring some out on his hand and dabbing his face with it. "It's all good. I'm fine. Headaches just a bit... bad..." he said as he sighed then steadied himself to continue walking as if nothing happened.    
  
But as Ned turned away and began walking ahead, he heard a dull thud against the path behind him, and turned around to see Duck, laid across the path, motionless.

 

* * *

 

After Ned and Duck had departed for the Crytonomica, Mama set out with Aubrey and Dani as well and headed out towards the clearing that held the gate to Silvane within it. With Dani being outcasted from the realm, it was no surprise she was a bit anxious to be traveling so close to it, and that anxiety only grew the further they made their way through the forest.   
  
"Are you absolutely certain it won't be an issue with me waiting outside?" Dani asked, mind racing as they continued walking. "What if someone finds me?"   
  
"It won't be an issue, Dani. You won't be stepping into Silvane, and it won't be for long. You know I will be back as soon as I can be." Mama explained, trying to set her mind at ease.   
  
"That and I'll be waiting outside with you. Mama's got it covered and I can fend off any bom boms that may come our way." Aubrey chimed in, trying to stay confident but one look at her girlfriend had her confidence turning into nervousness. "Or, try to, at the very least."   
  
"Exactly. Both you and Aubrey can just keep watch for anything while I find out what's messing with the planes. We are almost there, and the sooner it's done the sooner we can head back to the Lodge with any findings." Mama said, holding a determination to her tone that uplifted her entourage.   
  
Dani looked to Aubrey before smiling and taking her hand in hers. "I guess you're right. Technically, I'm not breaking any rules by standing near the gate." She agreed, and then fell into a quiet walk with Mama and Aubrey.   
  
Aubrey absentmindedly flicked a tiny spark in the fingers of her unused hand, her other still clasped in Dani's while they walked. Her gaze took note of the forest about her on their way, still worried about encountering an abomination while they were out, but the forest didn't indicate anything abnormal.

As they neared the edge of the forest where the tree line meets the clearing, Mama paused them and began to speak again, turning to face them both. "Now, you both just keep watch for anything. Don't leave from beside the gate until I come back." She says as she looks between their faces, being sure to have their full attention. "I'm sure there's an answer, and we are going to find it. We've already beaten this abomination once, and we are going to do it again just fine and get that lovely couple back to their home plane. I'll be back before you know it, okay?" Mama said to them both.   
  
Aubrey and Dani looked to each other once Mama had finished her talk and then looked back at her, both nodding and agreeing "Okay."   
  
Mama gave them a proud smile before nodding back towards the gate "Cmon then. No time to waste. Just keep watch." She said to them as they then proceeded closer to the center of the clearing where the gate to Silvane stood. Mama gave them one last look before she went inside, leaving Aubrey and Dani to stand outside of the gate on their own.   
  
They stood in silence for a little bit of time, both taking in how peaceful the clearing was at the moment. Dani sat down on the floor of the field with her legs crossed as they waited and Aubrey was quick to follow suit, sitting just beside her.    
  
"So... visitors from a different plane other than our own or Silvane, pretty nifty. Does Silvane have dragons or elves? It sounds like high fantasy sort of stuff, I don't  _ think _ there's stuff like that here but again I'm still pretty new to... all of this." Aubrey spoke as she tried to make some small talk to pass their time waiting.

"We, well, they have... um, Aubrey, I know you're just curious and all but I'd, I'd rather not talk about this here. I'm already so nervous being this close to the gate and I know you and Mama told me I have nothing to worry about but... Silvane is the last thing I'd like on my mind right now, if that is okay." Dani said as she looked back to her girlfriend, eyes almost distant for a moment.   
  
Aubrey nodded and looked apologetic for a moment, here forehead creasing a little before she voiced it "You're right, and I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hit home, and I'm sorry for before when I was talking to Lup, was I, was I really that insensitive?" She asked as she went to run the back of her neck with her hand.   
  
Dani laughed just a little before sighing "Insensitive? No. I wouldn't say insensitive, but there's a time and a place for everything. You're just curious, your new to it all and you still have so many questions. They're good questions too, and they might help us when we need the answers the most." She said as she took her girlfriends hands in hers once more "You just need to focus more on atmosphere, focus on when to ask those questions, find a golden opportunity. You're clever, Aubrey. And I... I love you."   
  
Aubrey's face heated up as a huge smile spread across it. "Thank you, Dani, and uh, for the record I, I love you, too." She said, squeezing her girlfriends hands again while she stared back into her face. She looked away after a moment and glanced about the clearing, suddenly feeling the rush of nerves take her over and she tried desperately to keep it under wraps. "I guess we should be keeping watch..." she said before glancing back to Dani from the corner of her eye.   
  
Dani laughed lightly "Yeah, yeah we probably should." She said before she too looked about the clearing, both going a little quiet as they looked and listened for anything different.

And as they fell silent and scanned, they came to realize that there was a change. The world around them was falling more and more into silence, and once the sound of the grass swaying and birds chirping disappeared entirely, they looked back to each other with mirrored expressions of terror. The accounts of what they experienced back in the forest, as well as the accounts both Barry and Lup presented, rushed into their minds like a ton of bricks, and left them terrified with how to proceed now even if Aubrey had gone up against this foe before.   
  
Aubrey scanned the area again, eyes frantically searching for the abomination in question, trying to figure the best course for action to scare it off with her powers. But as she searched and searched, she found no such monster. Her gaze cast away from Dani, and it wasn't until she felt the strong tug of her girlfriends hands that she looked back.    
  
And what she saw was nothing short of surreal.   
  
Where her girlfriend had been now left an endless void of darkness where she sat, mimicking Dani's exact shadow, a gaping hole that stretched on past an unfathomable distance. Aubrey's hands were still being tugged and held by her girlfriends, and she followed her hands down to see that Dani was still hanging on for dear life, clinging on and glancing behind her shoulder into the abyss with sheer terror in her eyes. Dani looked back and Aubrey tried pulling her back up with all her strength.    
  
"Don't let go!" Dani cried, tears now brimming the corners of her eyes and slipping past her control.   
  
Aubrey huffed and tugged back, trying to find purchase enough to lift her out. "Never!" She reassured as she started to make some headway, pulling as hard as she could and finally bringing her high enough that she could start to make it on her own as well.   
  
Just as Dani managed to get back to the top and begin pulling herself up and over the edge, the hole, however, had other plans.

The void that was there increased, following the same patterns as their shadows, and causing both Aubrey and Dani to plummet down into its endlessness.   
  
They fell for what could have felt like minutes, hours, days, before finally their fall met its end. Their bodies collided chaotically with whatever hard surface they met this far down into the void, contorted by the force at which they met.   
  
And in that same instance, they awoke. Both in a different forest than they were accustomed to. But both together, side by side, laying back on the ground near what appeared to be an abandoned camp.   
  
They both sat up and looked at each other with emotions and reactions fleeting from one to the next: the remains of terror, pain from the fall, confusion, and finally, realization.    
  
"This can't possibly be the camp..." Aubrey said as she then stood up quickly and looked around her at the camp they'd been dropped off at. She examined it all, finding nothing too out of the ordinary until she came to the tent. And she saw it, the tent with three perfectly executed gashes cut into its side. "Dani, come look at this." She said as she waved her girlfriend over.   
  
Dani was quick to follow the suggestion, getting up and brushing herself off before she stood next to the tent, eyes widening. "Oh my god..."   
  
"We fucking plane hopped." Aubrey spoke, nearly on the verge of just laughing at how terribly insane that sounded just to say. "We just hopped through two different planes of  _ existence, _ Dani. I mean... okay sure that's not that new to us but, this isn't Silvane, it's not my plane, this is something  _ new. _ And I should not be that excited about this. How are we going back?"   
  
Dani looked at the tent, falling into stunned silence while Aubrey was on the verge of hysteria, and before Dani could say something in response, a voice chimed in from behind them both.

" _ You _ plane hopped?" The voice from behind them spoke, and they both slowly looked at each other then turned around to see a guy that looked like the spitting image of Lup. And before they could say anything, he just  _ kept going _ "Likely fuckin' story. Where's your ship then, huh?" He questioned before pausing and sighing, looking about the campsite. "Actually, never mind-- I don't need to know your life story, I need  _ help. _ I'm just looking for a couple that came out here a few days ago. One of them looks pretty fuckin nerdy, like he'd gladly do your taxes, and the girl with him looks exactly--"   
  
"--exactly like you." Both Aubrey and Dani said simultaneously before looking at each other and laughing at how absolutely insane this entire endeavor has been.    
  
"I... okay, well, you don't know me and I don't know you but between us,  _ I'm _ the one who's entitled to that creepy Shining schtick. Twin privileges. But uh yeah, you seen em anywhere?" The elf questioned, sounding prematurely relieved that his search might just be easier than he initially intended.   
  
Dani and Aubrey looked to each other again, then back to the elf before Aubrey spoke up in her slightly too amused tone. "Dude, you're gonna wanna sit down for this."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you as always for reading! This one took a bit longer to get to, but there was a lot of ground I wanted to cover. <3 Next chapter will be fun as well though B)


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